Guest Post : How an Explainer Video Improved Grasshopper.com

At Grasshopper, we offer a virtual phone system for small businesses and entrepreneurs, giving them the “big company” phone features at an affordable price and without any of the hassles. When we first launched our business, clearly communicating all of the features and benefits of our virtual phone system was challenging. We needed a way to help people understand how our service worked plus how it could improve one’s business. Our solution? We decided to produce an explainer video that visually and acoustically conveyed the functionality and benefits of using Grasshopper.

While we are definitely not video production experts, we thought sharing some of the benefits our company gained from implementing an explainer video would be helpful, along with some lessons learned along the way.

Benefits of Explainer Videos

Higher Conversion: Upon launching our video, we saw an increase in conversions. There is no question that explainer videos help demonstrate how a product works and how it resolves customers issues, thereby converting more readers into customers through education and teaching than through a traditional push sales approach.

Longer Site Visits and More Page Views: The use of video content engaged visitors and made our site more interesting to users which resulted in longer site visits and more page views. And who doesn’t want that?

Improved Retention:Research suggests that the stimulation of both the auditory and visual senses increases a viewer’s attention and retention of information. So using an explainer video was the next logical step when it comes to explaining how your product or service works.

Advice to Other Web Businesses

Make No Assumptions: Don’t assume your readers know what you know about your product or service. As tech savvy business owners we often assume potential customers understand industry terminology and the technology but this isn’t always the case. A video can clear up these concepts, making it easy for people that are not very technical to understand.

Tell a Story, Don’t Sell: This may seem obvious but stay away from salesy language. Let your explainer video tell a story about how your product or service accomplishes a goal or solves a problem. By thinking of your explainer video as a story, viewers will be better able to connect the dots between your features and ultimately the benefits.

Invest in a Good Video: Budgets are always tight, but try not to cut corners when selecting a company to help produce your explainer video. The expression, “You get what you pay for,” definitely applies here.

Get Honest Feedback: Prior to final production, show the storyboard or rough cut to some people; those who know nothing about your business as well as those who know your business inside and out.

If you find yourself continually answering the same questions or explaining product functionality over and over again, perhaps it’s time to consider producing an explainer video. It was the perfect tool for us to communicate all of the great features Grasshopper has to offer plus illustrate the value of our service. If it’s true that, “a picture is worth 1,000 words,” then a video (moving pictures) must be worth so much more.

Today’s guest post comes from Allison Canty, Social Media and Community Outreach Manager at Grasshopper. Grasshopper is a virtual phone system for entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Have you had success with explainer videos? What problem did your video solve? If you had the resources to produce a new video, what would you do differently?